There’s been plenty of talk about eCommerce and the increase in online everything during COVID-19, and from where we sit here at Commerce Vision, we can attest to the impact this pandemic has had.
Looking at the data across our customer base (70% of whom are B2B) over the height of the COVID period (1 March -- 31 May), we’ve seen the effects our socially distanced world is having on eCommerce. There is a LOT more online business being done out there.
Certain industries (PPE, Sporting equipment, etc) have seen major upswings in business, while others (those supplying service industries like restaurants and pubs), have faced a sharp downturn.
Analytics data for that 3-month period shows that – on average - our customers were indeed much busier than the year prior:
Shifting from this mass of aggregate data down to a more granular industry level was more interesting. Without discussing particular customers in detail, it was interesting to see that the numbers backed up the anecdotes we were hearing:
This trend was repeated across the globe. A study of nearly 1,000 B2B executives and customers in Europe and the U.S. revealed that almost half of the businesses with an eCommerce solution were experiencing growth during COVID-19 (source).
The one thing these businesses all had in common was that they went into COVID-19 with highly functional and flexible eCommerce solutions in place. This allowed them to pivot quickly and service their customers (new and returning) with a level of sophistication that not every business could offer once the world suddenly isolated and life took place wholly online. As circumstances rapidly changed, having a robust eCommerce platform allowed our customers to:
Once the upheaval hit, companies who’d already invested in systems supporting service, trust, and reliability were in an enviable position. They have been able to take advantage of increased demand, win over new customers, and weather the storm.
For some of our customers, online revenue for the first six months of 2020 is already approaching what they achieved in ALL of 2019.
Whilst we can’t say this is only possible because of their foresight and investment in an integrated eCommerce solution, we can say that investing in the right eCommerce enables organisations to quickly react to market conditions -- good or bad.
Footnote: We’ll be looking at how our customers are travelling in the weeks and months to come, along with what's happening across the globe . We hope to be able to share our insights with you.